Trump Card
by Ayane13
Summary: My version of Harley Quinn for the Dark Knight and her story with Joker. Note, she is a lot different from the real Harley Quinn, though she ends up in the same place.
1. Prologue

**((The first couple chapters are very short, so bear with me.))**  
_  
AOL Instant Messenger Log 6/02  
_FrozenSilence21 signed on at 09:04:17 PM.  
FrozenSilence21: Hey Ace, what's goin on?  
TrumpCardAce: Not too much, hacking some vids online. Rigged it to my parents' projector. Pretty freakin' sweet.  
FrozenSilence21: 'Nother party?  
TrumpCardAce: Yup. Sorry for long silences, love these vids.  
FrozenSilence21: No prob. Gov vids of your future lover again?**  
**TrumpCardAce: Lol, of course!  
FrozenSilence21: You never did tell me which guy it is. Can you at least give me a hint?  
TrumpCardAce: Like?  
FrozenSilence21: Um… Good guy or bad guy?  
TrumpCardAce: Good…**  
**TrumpCardAce: LOOKING!  
FrozenSilence21: Uhg, you piss me off, you know that?  
TrumpCardAce: Why, yes, I did. And I take great pleasure in that fact.**  
**FrozenSilence21: You suck, slutbag. .** Enjoying watching your loverboy?  
TrumpCardAce: Lol, maybe.  
FrozenSilence21: Are they the same vids as you showed me before?  
FrozenSilence21: … That good, eh?  
FrozenSilence21: Ace, seriously, you never take THIS long to respond. What's goin' on? Parents catch you?  
FrozenSilence21: Whatever, I gtg. Bye.  
FrozenSilence21 signed off at 10:59:32 PM.  
FrozenSilence21 is offline and will receive your IMs when signing back in.


	2. Lucky Girl

**1. Lucky Girl**

The noise from below told the men where their target was. They'd been able to hear the movie from outside the door, so being sneaky wasn't a necessity. She wouldn't hear them even if they'd dropped all attempts at stealth. But they had to hurry. The boss wanted her at the hideout at 9:45 PM sharp and it was already 9:27.

Down into the basement they went, into the back of a large living room. There was an enormous screen with a projection playing the girl's movie. They took no notice to what she was watching, only heard her laugh once before two of the four jumped over the back of her couch. She barely had time to react before they had her hands tied and her mouth gagged. The pair had trouble restraining her legs, as they were quite strong. She kicked one in the guy, knocking the wind clear out of him. When she tried it on the other guy, he caught her foot right before it made harsh impact on his stomach. She tried kicking him with the other, but he stopped that too. In a matter of moments, her legs were bound and she was being carried over a third man's shoulder.

Out of the house they went without so much as touching anything besides the door-handles. The fourth man jumped into the driver's seat of a work van. Another, the one who'd had the wind knocked from his lungs, got into the passenger's seat. The other opened the back doors for the one carrying the girl. She was abruptly tossed inside, the two jumping in after. Off they sped, back to the boss's selected hideout at 9:34.


	3. Clowned and Gagged

**2. Clowned and Gagged**

The entire ride to the hideout, Qwinneth… Correction: Qwinn glared at her two visible captors with contempt. She wasn't angry over the fact that they'd kidnapped her, however. It was that they'd done it while she was watching her favorite sort-of-celebrity in action on a giant projected screen. Couldn't they have stolen her before she went through all the trouble of hacking government files and syncing her laptop with the projector?

Qwinn wanted to yell at them for it, but they hadn't removed the gag yet. She guessed that she'd remained tied and gagged until they reached their destination. It would probably be far from civilization 'so no know would hear her scream.' She rolled her steely eyes. Could they be any more stereotypical? The only thing unusual about these guys was the clown masks they wore…

"Wait, clown masks?!" Qwinn tried to speak aloud, but it came out completely muffled. She stared at the masks, trying to make out the details in the darkness. Lucky for her, one decided to turn on a flashlight to see what she was making a commotion about.

"Didn't the boss say not to gag her?" the one with the flashlight asked. He shined it on his partner, allowing Qwinn a good look at the mask he wore.

"Who cares? We can take it off before he sees her… And get that damned light outta my face, will ya?" the other replied.

Qwinn could barely believe her eyes. She knew the masks from the videos she watched! They were used in a few crimes involving the Joker as ring leader. All his henchmen usually wore them and once he wore one to rob a bank. Did this mean that the Joker was the boss they referred to? She would find out in a minute, she guessed, as the van came to a stop. Almost immediately, the doors flew open and there he was; the Joker, in the flesh and staring right at Qwinn.


	4. Stockholm?

**((Sorry about the extremely long wait on this one, guys. Hope you all enjoy! Thanks to all my reviewers/fans!))**

**3. Stockholm?**

As Qwinn's eyes locked with Joker's, her mind flashed back to the time she'd first seen him. Her mother had taken her out of the house without informing her father. They had just gotten out of the bank and were heading down the street when someone's shoulder bumped into Qwinn's. She had looked up to yell at the man, but she lost her voice when she saw his face; a white painted face, black around the eyes, and bright red lips that extended with seemingly large scars that began at the corners of his mouth. He had glared right back at her and for a moment it seemed that everything had frozen around them.

"Didn't I tell you not to gag her?"

Qwinn was brought out from her reverie when Joker spoke, his attention now focused on his henchmen. She had a feeling she knew what was coming next.

"Sorry boss, we didn't want her to scre-"

The henchman's words were cut short when Joker pulled a gun from his purple suit and shot both of the men that had ridden in the back with Qwinn. She hadn't flinched, her prediction having been correct.

Joker sighed and climbed into the back of the van, moving to Qwinn and removing the gag. He picked her up and flung her over his shoulder, carrying her out of the van and into a building nearby.

"Three, two-" an explosion sounded from outside, shaking the building a bit, "one."

He didn't say anything to Qwinn just yet, humming some odd tune as he carried her through the halls. She had plenty to say to him, though she knew well she couldn't voice most of those things.

"I'd ask what the point of that was, but I think I should be more persistent in finding out exactly why you kidnapped a sixteen-year-old home-schooled nobody. So, why did you kidnap me?" Qwinn asked, trying hard and somehow managing to keep her excitement from showing through her voice. She couldn't help but crack a tiny smirk. He couldn't see her face at the moment anyway.

"Why? Why indeed. Don't be impatient, you'll find out soon enough," the Joker replied before suddenly dumping her hard on her rear onto a metal fold-up chair.

Qwinn glared up at him when he stood in front of her. She wasn't the least bit afraid of what he might be plotting. He was hardly predictable.

"I think it's been "soon enough". Are you going to tell me now or do I have to pry more?" Qwinn asked before smirking slightly. "You are a man of your word, after all."

"You make a very good point. But I don't recall saying that I was going to tell you. I said you'd find out. See, I'd prefer…" the Joker pulled a knife from his violet jacket and held it out for her to see, "to show you."

"Bah, screw your technicalities…" Qwinn muttered before sticking her tongue out at him. She didn't have time to retract it, as Joker caught it with a gloved hand and held it tightly in between his fingers. Qwinn merely looked annoyed up at him.

The Joker grinned down at her, lowering the knife to her tongue. She could taste the metal of the blade, warm from being tucked inside his jacket. She glanced at it before looking up at him expectantly. If he was going to cut her tongue off, he should just do it. That most certainly wouldn't kill her, so there wouldn't be any revealing of her true nature. Not to mention the only emotion he'd have to savor was her annoyance. Dragging it out was pointless as far as Qwinn saw it.

The Joker seemed to share her opinion. He glared down at her, though the look in his eyes seemed a mixture of annoyance, disappointment, and...Was that interest?

Qwinn didn't have time to study the emotion, for the blade suddenly cut into her tongue, making her flinch. It wasn't a deep cut, but enough to bleed for quite a while. Joker pulled the blade away from her face for a moment. She broke eye contact with him to turn her head and spit blood on the floor. She was about to do it again when he grabbed her face and turned it back to him. Suddenly, he was down to her level, his face merely inches from hers. Just what was he trying to pull by cutting her tongue and invading her personal space anyway? Not that she minded…

Joker raised the blade up again, this time holding it by her cheek.

"You wanna know how I got these scars?" he asked.

"Your father was an alcoholic and got so bad one night that your mother tried to defend herself with a butcher knife. Didn't work and he asked you "why so serious" and cut your mouth open," Qwinn recited as if she'd heard the story a thousand times. "Or, your wife got in too deep with loan sharks, and they cut her like that," she nodded towards his face. "So you used a razor to cut yourself, but she left you because she couldn't stand the sight of you. The funny part of that story is she told you to stop worrying and to smile more and now you're always smiling."

Qwinn took a deep breath, having recited those tales quite fast. The Joker seemed baffled for a moment. He lowered the knife and stood up. He looked at her now with curiosity. The interest she thought she'd seen before was back. She smirked up at him.

"Why so serious?" she asked, letting her excitement finally slip through again.

"…You have Stockholm, don't ya?" the Joker finally asked. "It's a little soon for that, don't ya think?"

Qwinn frowned then, turning her head to spit out more blood from her tongue. "It's not Stockholm syndrome, I can promise you that. I just pay attention."

"Look at me…" he said as she went to go spit again. He didn't have to ask twice or yell at her like most of his other victims. She locked her cold grey eyes with him as soon as he'd gotten the words out. This girl was either lying about having Stockholm or really wasn't afraid of him at all.

As if she could read his mind, Qwinn said, "Any more tests of my bravery or are you convinced that I'm not scared? Is that what this is all about? Some mob-brat calls you a reject circus clown who puts Grandma's make-up on wrong and you kidnap her because she isn't afraid of you? I'm surprised that even got back to you."

"It was one of my former flunkies you told that to. You're a very peculiar girl, Qwinneth," Joker replied, sitting on the ground in front of her.

She smirked when he said her name. Music to her ears, even though she hated the name. "Call me Qwinn, please."

"Qwinn please? That's a very odd nickname," Joker said, though he was clearly just trying to get a rise out of her now. Her lack of fear and seeming knowledge about him intrigued him. How did she know the stories he'd told people about his scars? Why wasn't she afraid of him? He was damned sure he'd find out soon.

"Haha, very cute…" Qwinn spat out more blood off to the side. "Mister J."

"Mister J?" Joker asked, puzzling over her nickname for him. He thought about it and determined he didn't mind it. "I like that," he confirmed with a nod.

"Good, because that's what I'll be calling you most of the time from now on."

"You plan on living past tonight?"

"Oh I know I will. I can tell by the look in your eyes. You might be unpredictable, and maybe I'm wrong, but for now, you have no intention of killing me."

"You're very perceptive for a sixteen year old nobody."

"I pride myself in being weird, thanks."

Joker was silent for a while, studying her carefully. For once, he didn't know what he wanted to do with his victim. Could she even be called that? She seemed to enjoy his presence. She wasn't scared like all the others. She never trembled, never averted her gaze other than to spit away from him. She only glared or smirked at him, the latter being a completely new reaction out of all the people he'd caught and threatened. Her lack of concern for her life and her obvious interest in him made him feel the same towards her. Where did she get so ballsy?

"Daydreaming?"

Her voice broke through his thoughts. He blinked a few times before shaking his head.

"You've really thrown me for a loop, kid. You're confusing," Joker said, standing up.

"Why? Because I admire you and show no fear of dying? There, I said it. I wasn't lying when I said it wasn't Stockholm. I've liked you and what you do since-"

"I ran into you before I robbed that mob bank!" Joker suddenly shouted, the memory hitting him full swing. He remembered her eyes and how they'd locked with his. She wasn't afraid of him then, he realized, just as she wasn't now.

Qwinn smirked and nodded. "Indeed you did. That's what I was about to mention…"

Joker pulled the knife up again, moving towards her. She half expected to get stabbed or given a Glasgow smile to match his, but instead he started cutting loose the ropes around her ankles. Once her legs were free, he moved behind her and cut her wrists free.

"I like you, Qwinn. You've got potential. I want to see that bloom. I'll let you live…" He walked around the chair and stopped in front of her. He bent over and put his face dangerously close to hers again before she could stand up. "For now. Don't disappoint me. I'm really quite tired of dealing with normal people. I'd like to see another wild card, like me, show up in the deck."

"And what would you have me do? Blow up a bus filled with innocent people?" Qwinn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"See! You're already on the right track!"


End file.
